I’m a single mom. What happens to my child if I’m hospitalized with COVID-19?
The anxiety of planning ahead during uncertain times
I started working from home over 3 weeks ago.
I pulled my daughter out of school before New York City schools officially closed. I apologized to her teachers.
I had a respiratory illness in February that left me gasping for air. I had no symptoms other than a low-grade fever and shortness of breath. For weeks.
I went to urgent care when it got bad. I walked in and said, “I need a chest x-ray. I think I have pneumonia. I can’t breathe, and I need to pick up my daughter in exactly 45 minutes. I don’t know what to do.”
They took good care of me. I was in and out with a few minutes to spare. I still have the inhaler I was prescribed. The symptoms resolved after I took a cocktail of medications. But in the aftermath, every little symptom makes me wonder what would happen to my daughter if I came down with COVID-19 and needed to be hospitalized.
A few years ago, when she was a baby, I ended up in the ER with an elevated heart rate.
